Healthcare Employee

The healthcare field is one that usually operates on 24 hour basis. Therefore the individuals who are employed in this field are expected to work in both daytime and night shifts. This in turn means that individuals who are searching for jobs in the healthcare field need to be ready to work on shift basis. Yet working on shift basis is not always easy. It can interfere a great deal with one’s social life. It can also have an adverse effect on one’s health: as it often entails having to interfere with one’s circadian rhythms. One therefore needs to have coping strategies, right from the outset. This is especially the case given the fact that, in many places, newly hired employees tend to be deployed to the most ‘unpleasant’ shifts.

To cope with healthcare work shifts, you need to:

Make a habit of checking your work schedules well in advance: This will help you identify the shifts you have been allocated in good time. Then you can start preparing for those shifts in good time. This is important if, for instance, you are transitioning from day-time shift to night shift. In that case, you find that you will need to change your sleeping habits. And you are likely to have an easier time if you start adjusting your sleeping and waking time gradually, as the date when you are supposed to transition to night shift approaches. Then when the d-day arrives, you would have a smooth rollover from daytime shift to night shift. The alternative here would be where you fail to check your work schedules well in advance. Subsequently, you realize that you are scheduled to, say, change from daytime shift to night shift one day before the d-day. Then you’d have a very rough time, adjusting your sleeping and waking times all of a sudden. Checking your work schedules well in advance also allows you to make adjustments in your personal life. Like if, for instance, you have previously been on a daytime shift, which allowed you to leave your baby at a daycare center. Then if you are transitioning to a night shift (when the daycare centers are closed), you’d need to make other arrangements — well in advance — for the care of the baby. Previously, checking your work schedules entailed making a visit to the HR department offices of the healthcare company you work for. Nowadays (thankfully), most of the healthcare companies have web-based portals, where you can log in and proceed to check your work schedule there. So it shouldn’t take too much effort for you to check your work schedules well in advance, and start making any necessary preparations for changes in the work-shifts you are allocated.

Prioritize your sleep: Whatever shift you are allocated, you need to ensure that you are getting adequate sleep. This is good for your health, and good for your career. Think about it: if you don’t get adequate sleep, you will be inefficient at work. And if you are consistently inefficient at work, your career progression will ultimately start suffering. We are advised to ensure that we get between 6 and 9 hours of sleep on a day to day basis. So that is what you should be aiming for, regardless of the shift you are allocated. Now whereas it is always easy to get enough sleep when you are working a ‘normal’ day-time shift, it can get tricky when you are put on night shift. But you should nonetheless do your best, notwithstanding the various daytime distractions, to ensure that you get adequate sleep even when you are on night shift.

Focus on spending quality time with your loved ones: Sometimes, the shifts you are allocated to work will make it impossible for you to spend as much time as you’d want with your loved ones. In such cases, you’d need to focus on making the best of the little time you manage to get to spend with them. So this is where the question of ‘quality’ time would arise – where you try to spend the little time available in an impactful manner, to ‘compensate’ for the time when you have to be away from your loved ones.

See the positives in all work shifts: Every shift has its advantages and disadvantages. So whatever shift you are allocated, you need to focus on its advantages, rather than its disadvantages. Like, for instance, if you are allocated the so-called ‘graveyard shift,’ you need to focus on the fact that it would allow you to be ‘off-duty’ during the daytime, when you can attend to your personal businesses. Furthermore, chances are that the workload during the so-called ‘graveyard’ shift is likely to be light, compared to the weight of workload you’d have to cope with if you were allocated day-time shift… So it becomes clear that even the most dreaded work shift has its advantages. On the other hand, if you are allocated the daytime shift, you’d have an opportunity to live a ‘mainstream’ life: because you’d be at work when you are expected to be, and off-duty when you are expected to be off-duty. Furthermore, being on daytime shift would allow you to sleep at night, which tends to be more restful (and hence healthier) than trying to sleep during the day… So whatever shift you are allocated, focus on the positive side of it, and you will have an easier time plowing through it.

Try to get allocated on one permanent shift: This is better than moving from shift to shift. Having a permanent shift can allow you to plan your life better. And it is definitely better health-wise, in terms of the impact on your circadian rhythms. So even if you are allocated one of the so-called ‘undesirable’ shifts, but then you are allowed to work that shift permanently, it will be better than moving from shift to shift. But if you have to be moved from shift to shift, you need to aspire for a situation where you stay on the same shift for a reasonable duration of time, before changing. So that is where, for instance, you work the night-time shift for at least some months, before transiting to the daytime working shift. That is better than a situation where you change shifts on a weekly basis. But if the management insists on moving you from shift to shift on a week to week (or even day to day) basis, the most important thing will be to at least ensure that you always get adequate sleep.

One of the major roles for the HR departments in healthcare companies is that of creating work schedules for the rest of the employees. The task of creating work schedules for employees is not always an easy one. There are so many things you have to take into consideration. And there are so many unforeseeable things that you have to keep at the back of your mind, while creating work schedules for the employees. Yet when all is said and done, if you are in charge of HR at a healthcare company, you have to somehow come up with work schedules for the employees. And you have to ensure that the work schedules you come up with are as good as possible.

While creating work schedules for healthcare staff, you need to:

Ensure that there is adequate manpower at all times: This is the most important thing for you to keep in mind, while creating work schedules for healthcare staff. And in this regard, it is very critical for you to ensure that you don’t ever end up with too few workers at any given point in time. Remember, if you find yourself short of manpower at any given point, that may lead to a situation where the wellbeing of the patients is compromised. So this is something you need to take with the seriousness it deserves. On the other hand, it is also important for you to ensure that you don’t end up with too much manpower – more than you need, at any given point in time. If you end up with too much manpower at any point, it would mean that you would be spending more on HR costs than you need to. So you would not be making efficient use of your human resource and that is bound to have an impact on your healthcare business’ bottom-line. You find that it is really a tough balancing act, where on the one hand, you are keen to ensure that you don’t end up with too much manpower at any point, and where on the other hand, you also want to ensure that you don’t ever end up with manpower shortfalls. So the most important thing here is to carry out surveys, to find out when you are likely to have most patients and when you are likely to have just a few patients. Then you need to ensure that you allocate more staff at the points when you are likely to have lots of patients, and then allocate fewer staff at the points in time when you are likely to have fewer patients. You can then have staff who are off-duty but ‘on call’ — that is, ready to be called in in case there is a workload spike at any given point in time.

Make contingency plans for unforeseeable circumstances: There are many unforeseeable circumstances that are capable of messing up with your work schedules. For instance, some of the employees who were scheduled to be on-duty may fall ill suddenly, making it necessary for you to replace them on short notice. Or there may be a sudden spike in the number of patients who need to be seen, making it necessary to adjust your work schedule accordingly. The most important thing here is for you to have backup measures. Thus if, for instance, one of your employees is to call in sick, you need to have someone who can take his place on short notice. That is where the aspect of having employees who are ‘on call’ comes in: where you tell some of the employees who are scheduled to be off-duty to be ready to be called in, in case need arises. This is also where the question of having part-time staff comes in, including doctors who can be called on ‘locum’ basis.

Consider the employees’ input in the schedules: In this regard, for instance, it would be a good idea to consider asking the employees about the shifts they would prefer to be placed in. This is also where you need to consider asking the employees when they’d prefer to be off-duty – rather than allocating them off-duty days arbitrarily. Of course, there are situations where you will be forced to place an employee on a shift different from the one he would have preferred. But you would at least have shown him consideration, and you would need to communicate to him the fact that his needs couldn’t be accommodated. He would probably then appreciate the gesture. Remember, when employees are allowed to choose their shifts, some will surprise you by opting for the ‘less desirable’ shifts on their own accord (because personal preferences vary from person to person). You should therefore not fear taking the employees’ input while creating the work schedules.

Make the schedule available to the employees in good time: The objective is to get the employees to know when they are scheduled to be at work and when they are scheduled to be away from work in good time. They can then plan their lives accordingly, in good time. If you are still using the olden paper-based timetables, you’d need to print them out and pin them on the noticeboard in good time, for the benefit of the employees. If you have a web-based HR portal for your employees, you’d need to make the work schedule available in the portal well in advance: so that when the employees log in, they can get to view it. Remember, the work schedule is not something to be taken lightly – it is something that the employees are expected to plan their lives around.

Consider making use of software tools: There are software tools that are designed to enhance accuracy in staff scheduling, while also making the scheduling task easier. You really need to consider making use of these tools. Some of them can be downloaded (or used online) for free. And the software you use in your office can be configured to have work scheduling capabilities – like where you input certain formulas into an Excel sheet, turning it into a work scheduling tool. If you make proper use of software, you will be able to avoid some of the common mistakes that are associated with employee scheduling. Like for instance, with the right use of software, it is highly unlikely that you would find yourself double-scheduling an employee, or scheduling an employee for the wrong job.

Nowadays, pretty much every major company in the healthcare field has a HR portal. And whereas each HR portal is unique, they tend to have some common features. In other words, there are features you will tend to find in almost any healthcare company’s HR portal.

It is understandable that the HR portals for healthcare companies would have some common features. After all, these portals are designed to serve pretty much the same purpose. The resources that are meant to be accessed by the employees through the portals are the same. And in some cases, you find that the web development company that was contracted to create a HR portal for company ‘A’ is the same one that was contracted to create a HR portal for company ‘B’. It is then hardly surprising that the features in the HR portals would be the same, given the fact that they were created by the same individuals.

In this article, we will be looking at some of the common features in the healthcare companies’ HR portals. These, in other words, are the features you (as a web developer) would be expected to incorporate, were you to be contracted to create a HR portal for a healthcare company.

Without further ado, the common features in the HR portals for healthcare companies usually include:

User login requirements

Most of the HR portals for healthcare companies tend to be password protected. In fact this applies for all sorts of other HR portals: not just those in the healthcare field. In most cases, when you go to the HR portals’ homepages, what you tend to find are spaces for entry of login credentials. The required login credentials tend to be a username and a password. So you find that you can’t proceed any further, without entering those login credentials.

That the HR portals for the healthcare companies would be password protected is understandable. After all, these are portals meant to facilitate access to personal (employment-related) details. So you have to prove that you are an authorized person, before being allowed to access the personal employment-related details. And the way you prove that you are an authorized person is by entering the right combination of a username and a password.

Payroll details access

All HR portals for healthcare companies provide access to payroll details. This means that through the HR portals, individuals (namely the employees of the healthcare companies) are able to access their present and past paystubs. Further, through the HR portals, the healthcare companies’ employees are able to access details on how their paychecks are arrived at. Those would include details on hours worked, earning rates per hour, as well as the applicable deductions that ultimately lead to the paycheck figures. At yet another level, the HR portals for healthcare companies tend to provide access to tax information. So through the HR portals, the healthcare companies’ employees are able to access the various forms they need for tax filing purposes.

Work schedule details access

Most of the HR portals for healthcare companies tend to have modules through which the employees can access their work schedules such as the mycvshr portal. Therefore, thanks to the HR portals, the employees can check to confirm when they are supposed to be on duty and when they are supposed to be off-duty. And that is something they can do from anywhere and at anytime — thanks to the HR portals. Gone are the days when the work timetables would have to be printed and then pasted on notice boards for the employees to read.

Some of the HR portals for healthcare companies actually have components that allow the employees to indicate the times they’d prefer to be on duty and the times they’d prefer to be off-duty. That is usually the case for the healthcare companies that operate on 24-hour basis (under the shifts systems).So the employees are requested to log into the portals and indicate the times they’d be prefer to be on duty and the times they’d prefer to be off-duty. These are preferences that are subsequently taken into consideration when preparing the final work schedules.

At yet another level, the HR portals for healthcare companies tend to have components that allow the employees to request for time-off, and to apply for leave days online.

So it becomes clear that the HR portals for healthcare companies are designed with the objective of eliminating the need for the employees to visit the HR offices. After all, the employees are able to do for themselves things like checking work schedules, applying for off-days, applying for leave… and so on through the portals. Those are the things that would otherwise have gotten the healthcare companies’ employees to set aside time to visit the HR offices. Ultimately, thanks to the HR portals, it is possible for someone to get employed at a healthcare company, and proceed to work there for a decade — without ever having to visit the HR offices.

Benefits information details access

Most of the HR portals for healthcare companies tend to have employee benefits modules. Those are modules that make it possible for the employees to access details about the benefits (for instance, medical benefits) they are entitled to online. Further, the HR portals tend to have components that allow the employees to log in, and update details pertaining to their benefits. Like if, for instance, an employee has gotten a new child, and he wants to include him/her as a ‘beneficiary/dependant’ under the medical benefits, he is able to do so through the HR portal. Therefore thanks to the HR portal, the employee doesn’t have to visit the HR offices whenever he wants to update his benefits details.

Training modules access

A good number of the HR portals for healthcare companies nowadays provide access to training modules. Therefore the employees who wish to access training resources are able to do so through the HR portals. That includes new employees, who need access to orientation resources. In fact, some healthcare companies are able to carry out their training for new employees entirely through the HR portals.

Multi-platform access

Nowadays, most of the HR portals for healthcare companies are designed in a manner that makes multi-platform access possible. Therefore, the employees are able to access the resources they need (on the HR portals), whether they are using Windows or Linux powered desktop computers. They are also able to access the portals through Mac-OS-powered laptops, Android-based smart-phones… and even the simplest internet-enabled mobile phones.

It has become almost obligatory for healthcare companies to set up HR portals for their employees. In this day and age, any healthcare company that fails to set up a HR portal for its employees is at risk of losing competitive advantage. But as many HR managers in the healthcare field have come to learn, setting up the HR portals for employees is just half the equation. The other important half is that of training the employees on the use of the HR portals. Therefore the process of introducing the HR portals for healthcare employees can be best visualized as a two-step process. The first step is that of establishing the actual HR portal, and making it available to the employees. The second step is that of training the staff on the use of the HR portal. It is possible to have a very good HR portal, and still fail to reap the expected results, if you don’t take the trouble to train the staff on the portal’s use.

Why healthcare workers need to be trained on the use of HR portals

If the staff members (in any given healthcare company) are not properly trained on the use of the HR portal, they may start viewing the portal as an inconvenience. This would be a pity: especially when you remember that, in actual fact, the HR portals are meant to make life easier for the employees. Yet, due to lack of training, they come to view it as an inconvenience.

The older staff members, who were born before the computer era, are particularly susceptible to viewing things like the HR portals in question here as ‘inconveniences’. That is why there is need to train them adequately, before getting them to start using the HR portals.

Admittedly, it is very easy for the people who are IT savvy to get the feeling that the HR portals are too ‘simple’ to warrant any training. After all, these portals tend to be ‘intuitive’, and for individuals who have good computer skills, it doesn’t seem too hard to figure out how to access various resources through the portals. But remember, there are individuals who were born before the computer era. Some of them actually suffer from tech-phobia. For such individuals, there will never be a point when anything related to computers feels ‘intuitive’. That is what makes it necessary to organize training courses for them, before getting them to start using the HR portals.

Situations where it is necessary to train staff on the use of HR portals

There are three situations where it is necessary to train healthcare companies’ staff on the use of HR portals.

The first scenario is if the HR portal has just been introduced to a company. So here, we would be looking at a company that has been previously operating without a HR portal. Then, at some point, an HR portal is set up: and the staff members have to be trained on its use before it is commissioned.

The second scenario is if you are dealing with a new employee. So this would be a newly-hired individual, who is expected to be accessing his work-related resources through the portal. It becomes necessary to train him, so as to get him to know what the best way to use the portal is. Without training, the person may end up opting to learn how to use the HR portal through ‘trial and error’. And in the process, the individual may end up making some rather costly blunders.

The third scenario is if you, as the administrator of the HR portal, come to realize that the staff members are not using it in the right manner. So you opt to have the staff trained (or retrained) on the proper use of the HR portal, with the objective of getting them to do it right.

Ways in which you can train healthcare staff on the use of HR portals

There are 3 ways in which you can train healthcare staff on the use of HR portals.

The first approach would be where you organize formal training sessions for the staff members. In the course of the formal training sessions, you get to impart on them the various skills they need, to use the HR portals properly. This approach can work very well if, for instance, the HR portal is being introduced in a company where it wasn’t used before. You therefore find that all members of staff in the company need training on how to use the portal. So you may organize ‘seminars’, during which the staff members are given lessons – complete with practical demonstrations – on how to use the HR portal.

The second approach would be where you organize informal training sessions, with the individual staff members – during which you get to show them how to use the HR portals in the right manner. This approach can very well if there is only one individual who needs the training, or if there are just a few employees who need the training at a given point in time. So this is where you, as the HR portal administrator, can visit the employee at his desk, sit with him for an hour, and demonstrate to him how to use the HR portal in the right manner.

The third approach is where you set up web-based tutorials, through which you get to (remotely) train the employees on the proper use of the HR portals. These tutorials can be based on text. Or they can ideally be audio-visual tutorials. This approach can work very well if yours is a multi-branch healthcare company. Since you can’t keep on going to each and every branch to train the staff on the use of the HR portal, you can opt to set up web-based tutorials for the purpose. Then individuals who need the training – including newly hired staff members – can be referred to the web-based tutorials.

What you need to focus on, while training staff on the use of HR portals

The most important thing is to ensure that the staff members get a practical understanding on how to get various things done through the HR portal. This is why the training on the use of the HR portals should be mainly based on practical demonstrations — whether it is done through formal or informal training sessions.

It is also important to get the staff to understand how to deal with the various challenges they may encounter while using the HR portals. If, for instance, the computer hangs while using the HR portal, if they forget their passwords, if they enter the wrong details – you need to train them on how to deal with all these sorts of situations.